This untitled stereograph by Thomas J. Nevin, taken ca. 1868 of a group of 19 people sitting by a stream, including a woman holding a concertina, is held at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Ref: Q1994.56.31. Photographed together with its blank verso on 10th November, 2014 at the TMAG (by this weblog), the stereo is one of a series, some bearing Nevin's New Town stamp, some blank, originally attributed and sequenced by Specialist Collections librarian G. T. Stilwell at the State Library and Archives Office of Tasmania in the 1970s while preparing an exhibition of Nevin's portraits of convicts (at the QVMAG with John McPhee 1977).

A possible title for the stereograph might be "Concertina player with group of friends at New Town Creek". The location of the capture could be decided by the large tree with a notice nailed to it. Given the family association with the area around Ancanthe, Nevin most likely took this - and many other similar scenes in the series - at Kangaroo Valley (now Lenah Valley,Tasmania) where groups were regularly taken on a tour to see Lady Franklin's Museum and offered photographs as a souvenir of their day out. In 1872, for example, Thomas Nevin chaperoned a group of day trippers to Adventure Bay. They were informed a few days later by Nevin's notice in the Mercury (on 2nd February), that the photographs were ready for viewing (and buying).

Perhaps the tree was "Sir John Franklin's Tree" located in the upper reaches of the New Town Rivulet at Ancanthe where "15 people had once sat down for lunch". It was felled by the great storm which hit Hobart causing the landslide at Glenorchy in 1872, per this report (Location Plan New Town Rivulet, Archives Tas.)

Nevin photographed another concertina player accompanied by a wind instrument player in a group portrait at the Rocking Stone on top of Mount Wellington which he exhibited at the Wellington Park Exhibition, 1870.

Similar groups were photographed by Nevin at Lady Franklin's Museum, although by the late 1860s, the building housed fruit and potatoes rather than items of natural history and the science library which Jane Franklin had intended it should when built in 1843.

Kangaroo Valley was a convenient spot for Nevin as he was still a bachelor until 1871, and periodically resided with his two siblings and parents at the house his father John Nevin had built on land above the Museum in the mid 1850s. The Museum sat adjacent to the Wesleyan Chapel where John Nevin and his daughter Mary Ann Nevin taught school. Although Thomas Nevin had acquired a fully functioning commercial studio in the business district of Hobart Town by 1867 from his partner Alfred Bock, he always maintained a separate small commercial studio in the New Town area close to Ancanthe until the birth of his last child in 1888.

Detail of stereo by T. Nevin , Concertina player with group of friends at New Town Creek ca. 1868.

Thomas Nevin photographed day-trippers, school children, farmers and their fields, the Museum, ferns with and without snow, rushing water and glistening rocks at Kangaroo Valley quite regularly while developing skills in outdoor stereography. Taken on a warm day, this group sat close to the edge of a stream, the man closest to the camera holding a cup about to dip it. The boy leaning against the tree also holds a cup, and a water can stands ready near the picnic basket. Nevin photographed his sister Mary Ann dipping a glass close to the same spot.

The Musicians and the Music
Nineteen people excluding the photographer are present in this image; twelve women and seven men, including two teenage boys and an elderly man. The women range from early 20s to middle age. However, it is the concertina player slightly right of centre who draws the eye. She is a young, attractive woman with bushy hair, seated next to the group of men. She may have been Mrs George Case (nee Grace Egerton) who sang to the accompaniment of her husband playing the concertina while touring Tasmania in concerts held at the Mechanics Institutes in Hobart and Launceston. Her husband George Case is possibly sitting just below her in a hat, arms resting on upbent knees. A full-length portrait of the couple taken by Alexander Fox & Co. ca, 1864 is held at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, listed in the current exhibition Sideshow Alley, Infamy, the macabre & the portrait, (Saturday 5 December 2015 until Sunday 28 February 2016):

Notices of the Case concerts appeared regularly in the press from 1865 to the early 1870s.
George Case and his concertina were not without criticism. In this letter to the editor of the South Australian Register (9 March 1865), he responded angrily to a poor review of the previous' evening's performance:

MR CASE AND THE CONCERTINA.
to the editor.
Sir— In your report of our entertainment last evening you have made some rather severe remarks upon the concertina and my performances on that instrument. In justice to myself I claim a short space in your valuable journal, to place before you and the public a few facts, which I think will prove that I am entitled to a better place in your estimation and theirs than is conveyed in your criticism.
I received my first instructions on the concertina, when only a boy, direct from the inventor (Professor Wheatstone), and was taken by him continually to the various conversaziones of the scientific world for the purpose of displaying its powers. At that time, and for some period afterwards, there were only two performers on this instrument. Signor Begondi and myself. Since then I have travelled all over England, Ireland, and Scotland with the celebrated Jullien, performing nightly fantasias on the concertina at his concerts never without an unanimous encore. I was engaged by Signor Costa as solo concertinist at Her Majesty s Theatre, accompanying Catherine Hayes with my concertina on the stage of that theatre, and for many years at most of the principal concerts in London. I have travelled through England with Sims Reeves, John Parry, Arabella Goddard, Miss Dolby, Anna Thillon, and other first-class artistes, and have been engaged to perform at the evening parties of the Duchess of Somerset, the Earl of Westmoreland, the Earl of Wilton, and a host of nobility I could name, including in my audiences the late Duke of Cambridge and the Duchess, Lord and Lady Palmerston, Lord John Russell, &c., &c.
My annual concert at Exeter Hall was one of the features of the day, being invariably attended by about 3,000 persons. Three-fourths of the music published for the concertina have emanated from my pen, and after receiving during 20 years nothing but flattering testimonials of my ability as a performer on the concertina, and being able to say without egotism that no one is better known as a concertinist than myself. I feel it is, to say the least of it, odd to find myself for the first time in my life told that I have still so much to learn before I can secure the approbation of your critical reporter. Apologizing for intruding so long on your space,

Rather different reviews appeared two years later while touring Tasmania. A rendering of the National Anthem at their final performance at the Town Hall (see last review below) elicited "a perfect storm".

MR. AND MRS. GEORGE CASE. The reappearance of Mr. and Mrs. Case at the Mechanics' Institute last evening, after their visit to Hobart Town, was greeted by a large number of admirers, by whom both were cordially welcomed. The programme consisted of three parts, each of which had some new feature,and it is almost superfluous to any that the whole was rendered with admirable fidelity. The Spanish Dance with which the first part concluded was exceedingly pretty, and elicited prolonged applause. In Mrs. Case's imitation of Sims Reeves she sang " The Death of Nelson," and an encore being demanded she gave " Fair shines the Moon." 'A fantasia on the baritone concertina by Mr. Case was also encored. The entertainment concluded with an amusing comolioetta [?], entitled " Married and Settled. or D.u',lo [?] Dummy." Before the curtain fell Mrs. Case thanked the audience for their patronage, and expressed a hope that there would be a full house on Thursday; and as she was about to retire a perfect shower of bouquets fell around her and nearly covered the stage.
On Thursday night these favorite artistes appear for the last time in Launceston, when they have kindly consented to give an entertainment in aid of the Free and Industrial School. On this occasion a real explanation will be given of the Protean Cabinet illusion, which has baffled the comprehension of so many hundreds. Tomorrow evening Mr. and Mrs. Case give a farewell performance at Longford ; at Evan dale on Wednesday evening; Westbury on Friday; ard Deloraine on Saturday.

MR. AND MRS. CASE'S ENTERTAINMENT.
Mr. and Mrs. George Case closed their season at tho Town Hall last evening, when there was again a crowded audience to witness their performances. The programme embraced a number of Mrs. Case's best and most amusing characters, all of which, however, have been before noticed by us. The only especial feature of the evening was the duett on popular melodies, for violin and piano, by Mr. Case and Mr. F. A. Packer. The duett embraced several very popular melodies, and concluded with the National Anthem. It was beautifully played by both performers, and elicited a perfect storm of applause, and an unanimous encore, to which Messrs. Case and Packer replied by repeating a portion of it. Mr. Case's solo on the barítone concertina was another item of the programme to which we have not previously called adequate attention. This instrument is far more rich in tone than the ordinary tenor, and its manipulation by Mr. Case was something wonderful. He played a fantasia on popular melodies which was very loudly applauded. At the conclusion of the entertaiinuout Mr, and Mrs. Caso thanked the public for their very liberal support which has been accorded to them during their stay. To-night they appear at Cavey's Hotel, Brighton.

1860s Wheatstone concertinametmuseum.org Ref: DP225644

If indeed the young woman holding the concertina in Nevin's steregraph was Mrs George Case, the instrument was probably an English made Wheatstone concertina with square ends, and there may have been more musical instruments present - a violin or flute. On the lower left of the photograph in front of the group of women and next to the open picnic basket lies a bag possibly containing bagpipes. Then again, the young woman seated with the men may have taken the concertina from one of them nearby just to strike a pose, a not uncommon choice, as it happens -

Added to the classic and comedic repertoire for the concertina were familiar tunes renamed after local personalities. This local tune was titled "Sir John Franklin near the North Pole" and written or assigned to Arctic explorer and governor of VDL, Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Franklin.

ADRI: NS548-1-1Source: Archives Office of TasmaniaSeries: Copies of Manuscript Music, 1863 (NS548) page 25Notes: Manuscript music presented to Robert Rollings of Forcett by Alexander Laing. Comprises Scottish folk tunes (e.g. by Nathanial Gow) and some music titled to local identities.

Noel Hill and his 1860s concertina
This is the sound of a Jeffries concertina made in the 1860s, played by Noel Hill in 1995.
At YouTube:http://youtu.be/OVU3pSHQcFE

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Despite the large number of ships docking at the port of Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) from the beginning of the 1800s to the 1850s, whether bringing convicted criminals under sentence of transportation, or merchandise for the settler population, there was no patent slip where ships via South America and South Africa could safely be repaired after such long voyages of four months or even longer. Captain Edward Goldsmith used the patent slip at Sydney Cove NSW on return voyages from Hobart to London via Sydney for the repair of his ships during the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s. While on an extended stay with the Parrock Hall from London to Sydney in November 1844, departing January 1845, he drew up a proposal for a patent slip at Hobart to be presented to the colony's governor Sir William Denison who reviewed it in 1849, and suggested it would best be situated behind the Commissariat Stores, the site now part of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Historic Precinct.

State Library of NSWPatent slip belonging to the Australian Steam Navigation Co. [Sydney]Digital Order Number: a353001Creator Garling, Frederick, 1806-1873Date of Work ca. 1859-1871Call Number DGD 3Presented by Sir William Dixson, 1951

1840s
The patent slip at Sydney was used by Hobart ship owners the Maning Brothers for coppering and repairs. F. A. Maning was a neighbour of Captain Goldsmith's at Davey Street, Hobart. His conversion and non-return of a diving apparatus belonging to Captain Goldsmith for the salvage operation on the wreck of the Catherine Sharer in 1855 ended up in a Supreme Court trial.

"She was coppered and thoroughly repaired at the patent slip at Sydney about two years ago."

Sale of the Lord Hobart by the Maning Brothers
The Hobart Courier Hobart 25th October 1848

The New Patent Slip has been brought out by Captain Goldsmith of the Rattler. It is capable of having a steamer of 1000 tons burthen, or vessel of 800 tons. Hobart Town Courier

Contractors for Captain Goldsmith's patent slipColonial Times 29 July 1851

TRANSCRIPT

PATENT SLIP
NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS
Tenders will be received at the counting house of the undersigned, until 12 o'clock on Friday, 1st August, for the works necessary in laying down a Patent Slip in the Government Domain.
Plans, specifications, and all necessary particulars, may be learnt on application to
EDWARD GOLDSMITH
Davey-street, July 4, 1851

THE FIRST SITE
This diagram shows the original shoreline, now the TMAG Historic Precinct. The site next to Numbers 1, 2 and 3, the Commissariat Store, the Bond Store, Courtyard and Water Gate, behind the Commissariat Treasury were considered to be the ideal site for a patent slip by the Governor, Sir Wm Denison in 1849. However, by 1851, with difficulties associated with modifications to the Old Wharf, the patent slip was relocated to the Queen's Domain, on the foreshore of the Royal Botanical Gardens.

THE DIRECTOR of PUBLIC WORKS Wm PORDEN KAY
Sir John Franklin's nephew, William Porden Kay, was appointed to redesign the Royal Botanical Gardens in 1842. The intention was to include areas for public enjoyment beyond the purely economic and scientific purposes the gardens already served. He was the Director of Public Works in 1855 when he wrote the Report on Captain Goldsmith's Patent Slip. The Report covers the years 1849 to 1855, from the first date of Captain Goldsmith's proposal of a patent slip, to Captain Goldsmith's receipt of timber in November 1854 on condition work started on the slip within six months. The report details the frustrations, delays, obstacles, objections and unreasonable conditions placed on Captain Goldsmith prior to his sale of his interest to the McGregor brothers..

Patent Slip
In 1849 Capt Goldsmith proposed the importation of a patent slip, and requested that a piece of ground might be allotted to him on which to place it. Sir Wm Denison in reply expressed himself so fully committed of the advantage that could accrue to the Colony by the erection of a patent slip for repairing vessels trading to the port, as to be willing to do every thing in his power to further so desirable an object, and suggested a site at the back of the Commissariat Treasury, to which Capt Goldsmith agreed.
The terms on which this was to be granted were, 1st the ground to be leased to -

Page 2:

TRANSCRIPT Page 2

to Capt Goldsmith for 66 or 99 years at a nominal unit of 1/- per annum; 2nd that the patent slip should be erected thereon of sufficient dimensions for vessels between 600 and 700 tons; 3rd the Governor furthermore offered to fill in the ground to the required height, provide and drive the necessary piles and grant the loan of a diving Bell on Capt Goldsmith's undertaking that all vessels belonging to the British Navy, to the Local Government or the Convict Dept., should be allowed the use of the Slip, at one half the charge to other vessels of equal tonnage.
In February 1849 Capt Goldsmith expressed his acquiescence in these terms and, in December 1849 reported the arrival of the Slip,

Page 3:

TRANSCRIPT Page 3

and again acquiesced on the conditions above mentioned, requesting that the Land fixed upon might be at once leased to him.
In January 1850 the Director of Public Works furnished a list of the piles required, with a statement of what their cost would be to the Government, including driving them and the filling in required, as previously agreed to be done by the Government, amounting to £1016.19.0. and in the same month a plan for the piling was arranged between the Director of Public Works and Capt Goldsmith, and submitted to the Lieut. Governor.
This having been approved, Capt Goldsmith was informed /in Feby 1850/ that the Government would at once commence driving the

Page 4:

TRANSCRIPT Page 4

the piles, but would not be bound to do so within a specified time.
The Director of Public Works was shortly afterwards /in May 1850/ directed to remove a portion of the Commissariat Wharf to make room for the Slip, and the Deputy Commissiary General was apprised that such had been done.
Between this period and January 1851, some negotiation took place as to a change of site considered necessary by the objections made by the Commissariat to their wharf being interfered with and by the works which His Excellency at that time contemplated for the formation of a dock behind the Commissariat. Capt Goldsmith was consequently compelled

Page 5:

TRANSCRIPT Page 5

compelled to seek elsewhere for a suitable site, and in January 1851 submitted a plan of one in the Domain which the Lieut Govenor agreed should be given up for the purpose, and ordered to be marked out, authorising Capt Goldsmith to occupy it until a Lease could be prepared.
On this being reported performed [sic ?] by the Director of Public Works, in February 1851, Capt Goldsmith stated his readiness at once to commence the work and submitted a tender which he had received for driving the piles, and as the Government, on a former occasion had agreed to perform this work for him, he requested that timber to the amount of the tender £325 might be given to him in lieu of such assistance. This

Page 6:

TRANSCRIPT Page 6

This proposition His Excellency would not at first entertain on the grounds that the stipulated assistance could be given to Capt Goldsmith at a much cheaper rate by the Government driving the piles themselves.
It however appeared on further consideration that the quantity of timber required by Capt Goldsmith would cost the Government only about £120, and they would be relieved from all responsibility as to the stability of work work executed by them. It was therefore on the 26. March 1851, agreed that the piles and timber, about 5000 cubic feet, should be given to Capt Goldsmith, as an equivalent for the non performance of every condition promised by the Government except the

Page 7:

TRANSCRIPT Page 7

the loan of the Diving Bell.
About this time also Capt Goldsmith again applied for a lease of the ground and in June 1851 submitted a draft lease of the allotment in question, which was referred for the opinion of the Director of Public Works and the Law Officers of the Crown. From the latter it appeared that various legal difficulties stood in the way of the execution of the lease, and here the subject appears to have dropped until October 1852, when Capt Goldsmith again applied for his lease, on which it was determined to nominate by Act of Council, some person as the Lessor of Crown Lands, who would then be in a position to grant the Lease in question

Page 8:

TRANSCRIPT Page 8

This decision was communicated to Capt Goldsmith in November 1852, informing him that in the mean time, he would be undisturbed in his possession as heretofore.
In October 1853 intimation was given to Capt Goldsmith that the Officers above named had been appointed and that the Lease could be at once executed, and on the 20 January 1854, the Crown Solicitor forwarded a counterpart of a lease which had been executed, and on which Capt Goldsmith was bound to complete the work by a certain period.
On the 9th November Capt Goldsmith applied for 12 months' extension of this time on the following grounds. 1st that had His Excellency's

Page 9:

TRANSCRIPT Page 9

Excellency's intention to drive the piles for the Slip at the back of the Commissariat without delay as stated in the Col Scys letter of February 1850 been carried out, Capt Goldsmith's part of the agreement could have been then at once commenced and completed before the discovery of gold in the adjacent Colonies had caused the enormous rise in the price of wages and materials which then took place.
2ndly the unavoidable delay which took place in the supply of the timber stipulated to be contributed by the Govt. 3rdly the failure of the parties with whom Capt Goldsmith had entered into the Contract for driving the piles, to complete such Contract, on the

Pages 10 and 11:

TRANSCRIPT Pages 10 and 11

ground of the delay in supplying the timber and the consequent measured rate of wages. And lastly the long period of uncertainty as to the lease of the site which to a certain extent prevented his entering into an other contract. Two very severe attacks of illness and family afflictions further contributed to retard Capt Goldsmith's operation, and under the circumstances, his request was acceded to, on the Condition that the work should be commenced within six months of that date by Nov. 14th 1854.
The stipulated quantity of timber has now been supplied to Capt Goldsmith and his receipt for the same filed in the Office of Public Works,

DISILLUSIONMENT and DEPARTURE
Failure of trust had marked Captain Goldsmith's experiences with Hobartonians since the year of departure of his good friend, Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Franklin and his wife Jane Franklin in 1843. Sir William Denison, the Colony's governor in 1849 was most enthusiastic about Captain Goldsmith's plans for a patent slip, but the government's refusal to recompense him fully for expenses in building the twin steamer the Kangaroo, had already led to major disappointment. The final insult came with the government not meeting their own terms of agreement in promising assistance to build the patent slip.

Then there was the Supreme Court trial in July 1855 with his neighbour, Mr. F. A. Maning over his neglect to return Captain Goldsmith's diving apparatus imported at the beginning of 1855. Personal tragedy also beset him: his eldest son Richard Sydney Goldsmith, a clerk at the Union Bank, died of fever in August 1854, Hobart, aged 24 yrs. Even though Captain Goldsmith was absent for at least eight months of every year, departing London around August in the northern summer, arriving in Sydney and Hobart in summer in November, commanding fast traders, barques and brigs such as the Wave,Waterloo, Janet Izzat, and his finest, the Rattler, the local authorities in VDL unfairly expected his continuous and devoted attention to the construction of the patent slip despite the obstacles they placed in its execution.

By November 1855, and despite the all the admiration bestowed upon him over two decades for enriching the colony with the import and export of plants, livestock, agriculture, engineering and luxury items for its wealthy settlers, Captain Goldsmith began the process of selling up all property. His disillusionment with the Colony was considerable; losses both personal and financial could never and would never be compensated. He departed Hobart for London with his wife and only surviving son Edward Goldsmith jnr in February 1856, settling back at Gad's Hill, Higham, Kent as a neighbour of Charles Dickens . His ties to his wife Elizabeth's family in Hobart, however, remained strong. In his will on his death (1869), he bequeathed property in Kent to his nieces Mary Sophia Day and her sister Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day, wife of photographer Thomas J. Nevin, daughters of his brother-in-law Captain James Day, his First Mate and Navigator on voyages to VDL during the 1830s and 1840s.

Notice of Captain Goldsmith's sale at the slip, Hobart Courier, 12th November 1855.

TRANSCRIPT

12th November 1855
TO SHIPBUILDERS, CONTRACTORS, AND OTHERS
Unreserved Clearing Sale of the well selected and thoroughly seasoned Gum, Planking, Knees, Treenails, English Pine Spars, Yards, Cut Deals, Huon Pine in Logs; also Pitch, New Ten-ton Launch, Punts, &c, &c,, at the Yard of Captain Goldsmith, Government Domain.

Without doubt, the major factor in Captain Goldsmith's decision to leave Tasmania permanently was considerable monies owing to him by the Government for the construction of the twin ferry, the Kangaroo and the reneging of agreements concerning the site location and lease, the supply of timber and driving of piles for the patent slip. From late December through to February 1856, the colonial newspapers in Hobart, Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane made it known that the contractor, Captain Goldsmith, was paid in small amounts totalling less than £1000 in cash, plus £256 in timber, while his own outlay exceeded £6000 "without any charge for his own time, interest of money, use of yard etc". The real costs to him personally, he claimed, were higher than £9400. The Colonial Secretary offered just £5000 to Captain Goldsmith and no more. The initial unrealistic estimate of £4000 by Sir William Denison, which paid a deposit on the machinery, the engineer's dues and little else, was further compounded by inadequate supplies of timber from Port Arthur and Cascade due to scarcity of prison labor, a matter put to a Select Committee inquiry into corruption within the Convict Department. In total, the whole cost of this little ferry amounted to more than £17,629 (Sydney Morning Herald, 6 January, 1856). Captain Goldsmith left Tasmania grossly out of pocket and undoubtedly soured by memories of functionaries who had taken advantage of his generosity and good will.

Debts owing to Captain GoldsmithColonial Times, 21 December 1855

TRANSCRIPT

And indeed in the statement of the cost of the twin ferry boat "Kangaroo", we find that the contractor has only received timber to the value of £256.10s.2d, and cash to the amount of £1000. The reply is that the Government will not object to submit the matter to arbitration, Mr. Goldsmith replied that he finds his outlay exceeds £6000, without any charge for his own time, interest of money, use of yard &c., and suggests the Government shall give him £5000 at once, when he will leave to arbitration the amount to which he is entitled beyond that sum. To this the Colonial Secretary demurs, but offers the sum of £5000 in full of all demands, and there the correspondence concludes. After reading the whole of it, we are very painfully impressed with the consciousness that the whole of our functionaries, from the highest to the lowest, have proved themselves grossly incompetent to the conduct of such a trifling affair as the building of a ferry-boat.

Memorial of an Indenture to be registered pursuant to the Act of Council in such case and provided [No.4/1871]
Date -
The twenty third day of August one thousand eight hundred and fifty five

Names and additions of the parties -
Edward Goldsmith of Hobart Town in Van Diemen's Land Esquire of the one part and Askin Morrison of Hobart Town aforesaid merchant and Alexander McGregor of Hobart Town aforesaid Ship builder of the other part

Names and additions of the Witnesses -
Jsh Allport Solicitor Hobart Town

Nature and object -
The new Memorializing Indenture cites that by an Indenture dated thirtieth December one thousand eight hundred and fifty three made between Robert Power of Hobart Town aforesaid Esquire Surveyor General of Van Diemen's Land and Lessor of Crown Lands of the one part and the said Edward Goldsmith of the other part the said Lessee of Crown Lands leased and granted unto the said Edward Goldsmith his executors administrators and assigns the allotment of Land hereinafter described with such right as hereinafter are mentioned for the term of ninety nine years to be continued con [...?] from the first day of December then the last at the yearly rent of one shilling payable yearly and by the said Indenture of Lease [...?] amongst other things provided that a patent slip of each dimensions and power as are therein mentioned should be completed and finished upon the said demised Land and the bed of the river Derwent adjoining the same within two years from the first day of December then instant that by an Indenture dated twelfth May last past made between the said Lessor of Crown Lands of the one part and the said Edward Goldsmith of the other part the time allowed in the said Indenture of Lease for the erection and completion of the said Patent slip was extended until the first day of December one thousand eight hundred and fifty six that the said Edward Goldsmith had imported certain Iron work and machinery for the construction of a patent slip and deposited the same in a part thereof upon the Land demised by the said Indenture of Lease and the said Edward Goldsmith also deposited certain Piles and other Timber upon the said Land and caused certain jetties and warves to be erected which extend from the said demised Land into the river Derwent and the said Edward Goldsmith also erected certain houses sheds and other buildings upon the said demised Land That the said Edward Goldsmith had lately contracted with the said Askin Morrison and Alexander McGregor for the sale to them of his terms of his estate [?] in the said allotment or piece of Land and of the said Iron work and machinery imported by him for the construction of a patent slip and of all such piles Timber and buildings as hereinbefore mentioned at the price [?] of Four thousand five hundred pounds and the new Memorializing Indenture is as assignment by the said Edward Goldsmith of the allotment or piece of land messuaged hereditaments and premises hereinafter described and all Jetties warves buildings piles and other erections or structures built made constructed or set up by the said Edward Goldsmith upon the said piece of land unto the said Askin Morrison and Alexander McGregor as Tenants in common and to their respective executors administrators and assigns for the residue and remainder of the said Term of ninety nine years created by the Indenture of Lease subject to the payment of the said yearly rent of one shilling and to the performance the said several covenants and agreements therein contained.

Description -
All that allotment or piece of land situate and being in the Queens Park in the Parish of Hobart and County of Buckingham in Van Diemen's Land aforesaid containing by admeasurement three acres and one perch or thereabout and bounded as follows (that is to say) on the Northern side by one chain and twenty seven links Westerley along the Queens Park commencing at the river Derwent at a point distant twenty five chains and eighty links or thereabout in a South Easterly direction from the eastern angle of the Powder magazine on the Western side by seven chains five links and one quarter of a link Southerly in two bearings also along the Queens Park to the river Derwent aforesaid and thence by that River to the point of commencement . Together with full and free liberty ??? and authority for the said Edward Goldsmith his executors administrators and assigns and his and their servants and workmen to break up and remove earth gravel and soil upon the said Land and to contruct warves and Jetties thereon and to extend the same into the River Derwent opposite to the said demised Land and to construct upon the said demised Land and upon the bed of the River Derwent adjoining or near to a patent slip or patent slips and certain other erections and structures with liberty to anchor and moor vessels in the River Derwent aforesaid opposite or near to the said Land and together also with the full use and enjoyment of a right of carriage and drift way over certain Roads which in the said Lease are mentioned.

Where situate -
In the parish of Hobart and County of Buckingham

Consideration -
The sum of Four thousand Two hundred pounds by the said Askin Morrison and Alexander McGregor paid to the said Edward Goldsmith on the execution of the new Memorializing Indenture
Robert John Parker Clerk to Messrs Allport Roberts & Allport Solicitors Hobart herein maketh oath in faith [?] that the above written Memorial contains a Just and True Account of the several particulars therein set forth
Robert Parker
Sworn at Hobart Town this tenth day of September one thousand eight hundred and fifty five before me
W. [?]
Registrar of Deeds and Signed Alexander McGregor
Rec'/d 10/9/55 at 1pm Verified by R. John Parker Clerk to Messrs Allport Roberts & Allport of Hobart Town Solicitors - Reg/s of Deeds No. 4/1871

1866: The Patent Slip
Although the stereograph (below) bears Samuel Clifford's label on verso, it was probably taken by his younger partner Thomas Nevin in the early 1860s, as were many of the prodigious output of stereos printed and stamped by Clifford in the decade 1868-78. Clifford may have reprinted it after 1876 when he acquired Nevin's stock of commercial negatives while Nevin continued in civil service. Similar examples of Nevin's stereographs reprinted as a single image by Clifford or vice versa are of the Salmon Ponds, The Derwent River at Plenty, and other commercially viable and touristically appealing scenic representations. However, this stereograph and the single image below were taken at different times and from slightly different vantage points, and while purporting to represent Government House, in fact both images foreground the patent slip as the stronger signifier. Nevin certainly had an interest in the history of this slip because Captain Edward Goldsmith was Elizabeth Rachel Nevin's (his wife's) uncle. He may have taken it to be forwarded to her uncle as a memento of troubled times

The figure of a man leaning against the tree near the fence in the stereograph is missing in the single image, as is the second barque, but all other details are identical. The single image was taken at closer range, suggesting two photographers and two cameras, spending an afternoon at the slip. Note that the single image does not bear Clifford's name nor any photographer's name, but is nonetheless attributed to Clifford by its inclusion in an album bearing his name.

Title: Government House from the Patent SlipIn: Tasmanian scenes P. 4, item 8Publisher: [ca. 1865]Description: 1 photograph : sepia toned ; 11 x 19 cmFormat: PhotographADRI: AUTAS001124074907Source: W.L. Crowther LibraryNotes: Title inscribed in ink below image ; date noted in pencil at lower right of image on album page ; item number noted in ink at centre left of image on album pageExact size 105 x 184 mm"Tasmanian scenes" also known as "Clifford album 1"

1880s: credit due to Captain Goldsmith
Details of the transfer of the lease of the patent slip from Captain Goldsmith to Alexander McGregor from the Launceston Examiner, 21 January 1881, were outlined in an article looking back at ship building in Tasmania.

Launceston Examiner, 21 January 1881

TRANSCRIPT

The twin steamer Kangaroo was built in the year 1854, under the immediate supervision of the late Governor Sir William Denison, R. E., by the late Captain Goldsmith, formerly of the London traders Waverley and John Izat, at the Imperial expenditure, regardless of cost. Her timbers, which (says the Mercury) are still as sound as ever, were the pick of the forests of Tasman's Peninsula, and her machinery was the best of the day. She was designed for the purpose she still serves, as a huge floating bridge between Hobart and Kangaroo Point, and was built on that portion of the Queen's Domain known as McGregor's patent slip. During the progress of her building a long lease of the site was granted to Captain Goldsmith by Sir William Denison, on condition that he laid down what was then much needed - a patent slip. The conditions of the lease were, however, unfulfilled by him, but the hon. Alexander McGregor purchased Captain Goldsmith's interest in the lease, and forthwith carried out its conditions by laying down the slip, now carried on by his brother, Mr. John McGregor, on the Queen's Domain.

A brief history of the Patent Slip and other Hobart slips was published years later, in 1882:

"To Captain Goldsmith, who came to the colonies in charge of one of the London traders, the credit of introducing patent slips into Hobart is due."

This is an excerpt from "Shipbuilding in Tasmania", a detailed account of this patent slip written with the benefit of 30 years hindsight, and printed in The Mercury Friday 23 June 1882. Read more at this link.

The Domain Slipyard ca.1878, 1900 and 2014
Former site of Goldsmith's and McGregor's patent slip, now TasPorts Domain Slip

Search

In his own words ...

“I hope that you have not got it in your mind that I am implicated with the ghost“.The Mercury, 4 December 1880

"Defendant said that he was the father of a large number of children, and did not know which one was referred to. (Laughter.)"The Mercury, 11 August 1886

"Mr. Thos Nevin was under the impression that the police should be under stricter supervision."The Mercury, 19 July 1888.

Biography: Professional photographer Thomas James Nevin snr (1842-1923) produced large numbers of stereographs and cartes-de-visite within his commercial practice, and prisoner identification photographs on government contract. His career spanned nearly three decades, from the early 1860s to the late 1880s. He was one of the first photographers to work with the police in Australia, along with Charles Nettleton (Victoria) and Frazer Crawford (South Australia). His Tasmanian prisoner mugshots are among the earliest to survive in public collections, viz. the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston; the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart; the Tasmanian Heritage and Archives Office, Hobart; the Port Arthur Historic Site, Tasman Peninsula; the National Library of Australia, Canberra; and the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW, Sydney. Thomas J. Nevin's stereographs and portraits are held in public and private collections in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland.

Recent Posts

Our Fourteenth Anniversary 2019

Fourteen years ago (before 2005 actually) we started blogging about Tasmanian photographer Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923). We look forward to another two years at least as the project draws closer to completion. Contributions and donations are most welcome, and many thanks for your involvement.

Notices

DISCLAIMER: We have not voluntarily contributed to any publication which supports the misattribution of Nevin's prisoner/convict photographs (300+ extant) to the non-photographer A.H. Boyd, nor do we condone any attempts by public institutions or private individuals to co-opt the work on these Nevin weblogs and associated sites to apply the misattribution.

Our stats show heavy and repeated downloads pertaining to Nevin's prison photography. Please consult your institution's guidelines on student plagiarism and Amendments to the Copyright Act 2000. Every version of an article and image is printed and stored at the publishers. Take care to consult the URL of the post/article you wish to cite, especially if you are using RSS, caches, and readers as every entry is subject to UPDATING at any time. Do not make hard copies. Librarians please note: do not archive as preserved pages. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.